The Miami City Commission meets Friday to consider a proposed ballot measure that would let voters decide whether they want to move the date of future elections.
The Miami City Commission may toss the question of when to hold city elections to voters this week, after weathering three legal defeats and fierce public blowback over its decision in June to postpone the 2025 election until 2026 without a public vote.
The City Commission is scheduled to meet Friday to decide on two proposed ballot referendums – one of which would let voters decide whether they want to elect their mayor and city commissioners in even-numbered years, when voter turnout is higher.
If approved by voters in November, the proposed charter change would shift the city’s election calendar by one year, starting in 2031.
Commission candidates elected in 2027 would serve for five years, not four, and face reelection in 2032, according to Miami District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo.
Commission candidates elected in 2029 would also serve a five-year term, as would the mayor. Going forward, the term of office for the city’s mayor and commissioners would revert back to four years, beginning with the 2032 election.
“It’s a very positive move,” Pardo told the Spotlight on Monday.
“There is no one sitting on the dais (today)… that will get five years,” he added. “There is no additional year (without a public vote). We took that away.”
The proposed ballot referendum signals the city’s retreat from its earlier decision to postpone this year’s election for Miami mayor and two commissioners to 2026.
Pardo had voted in June to postpone the 2025 election, arguing that a shift to even-numbered years – in step with state and federal elections – would boost voter turnout and thereby strengthen local democracy.
The commission’s 3-to-2 decision to move the election sparked public outrage, however, putting Pardo and fellow commissioners on the defensive.
Critics condemned the move as a “power grab,” since it would have given sitting commissioners and Mayor Francis Suarez an extra year in office.
Miami mayoral candidate Emilio Gonzalez went to court to contest the move and prevailed three times before judges who said the city could not move the date of its elections without first asking voters for their approval.
Pardo said he expects his fellow commissioners to approve the proposed ballot measure on Friday. Commissioners Christine King and Ralph Rosado voted with Pardo in June to move the 2025 election date; Miguel Gabela and Joe Carollo were opposed.
“We really tried to make it as clean as possible – to take away every single objection,” he said. Pardo also said the ballot measure has the support of Miami’s mayor.
“He’s the one calling this meeting” on Friday at 10 a.m., Pardo said.
Also on the commission agenda for Friday: a second proposed referendum seeking voter approval for a Miami Marine Stadium restoration plan (you can read more about that proposed ballot measure here).
